Well silent movies tend to move slow but there are exceptions. We have Midnight Faces, The Bat, The Cat and The Canary and also this movie. Midnight Faces is just a chaotic mess. The Bat and The Cat and The Canary have the right pace, alternating between slow and fast sequences but still giving enough attention to introducing each character and giving them some kind of personality. The latter is a bit the problem with The Last Warning. It has plenty of atmosphere and the theatre is a great setting to have this murder mystery picture. However characters are barely given introduction or much depth. So often I was wondering OK who is who again. The director obviously went for visuals and action instead of a strong plot and proper character development. Still I think it's worth a re-watch.

"Broadway - electric highway of happiness" and instantly you are treated to a golden (my copy was tinted) visual treat, a montage of high stepping chorus girls, glittering lights showing the Strand and Madison Square Garden that soon turn to police lights and sirens - there has been a murder committed at the Woodford Theatre!! Paul Leni and his cameraman Hal Mohr find some fantastic camera angles (Margaret Livingston is first glimpsed, from a camera positioned on the floor, stepping over a spider's web). Like "The Cat and the Canary" spider's webs feature prominently in the second half. Much of the film is set in an old theatre that was originally constructed for the Paris Opera sequences in "The Phantom of the Opera"(1925).The leading actor John Woodford has fallen dead on stage while clutching a candlestick and even though chloroform has been discovered dripping on stage it is still too baffling for the police to solve, especially as the body disappears!! There is another fabulous montage of newspaper headlines showing the police are baffled and the leading lady Doris Terry (Laura La Plante) and stage director Richard Quayle (a very young John Boles) once lovebirds, have now separated due to doubts and anxiety.Suddenly the theatre, after years of gloom, is due to open again with sunlight streaming through the musty windows and cobwebs filling the screen. And even though new owner, Arthur McHugh (Montague Love) has had an ominous warning from the ghostly John Woodford, he is determined to forge ahead by staging the last play presented, along with the original cast members. But is he who he claims to be? It is Montague Love after all, a master villain of the silent screen!! Another message "Beware, let the dead sleep" is ignored and Harvey Carleton (Roy D'Arcy) is given Woodford's old part and is thrilled - until he receives a ghostly calling card!!From then on hijinks abound - suspended scenery crashes onto the stage, a fire starts when all the cast are closeted in a dressing room, the chair on the stage disappears. La Plante must have felt a "Cat and the Canary" type deja vu, with wizened hands emerging from wall panels etc but really, after a while, the film takes on a "Phantom of the Opera" persona as a flitting figure climbs balconies, shimmies ropes and strides up rickety stairs, having a first hand knowledge of the ins and outs of the musty old theatre. Helped enormously by Leni's masterful direction and Hal Mohr's fluid camera-work. At times the camera seems attached to the rope as he swings from balcony to landing with hands grappling at the camera as he just evades their capture.An all star cast helped with La Plante perfecting her hand to mouth, stricken face and screaming stance. John Boles suitably wooden (was he any other way) and Margaret Livingston at her vampish best. Love the end title "It's a Universal Picture, how did you like it? Write to me with your opinion"!! Just too cute!!

I don't have too much to say about "The Last Warning." It's not much of a horror film. There's certainly some horrific elements floating around. The story revolves around an actor dying mysteriously on-stage during a theatrical performance. Years later, a man reopens the theater and decides to restage that play, in hopes of luring out the murderer. This plan is wildly successful.Sometimes, the only difference between a murder mystery and a horror film is the delivery. "The Last Warning" is focused on sleuthing. A large portion of this short film is devoted to sneaking around the theater, investigating things. There's plenty of cobwebs, reported ghost sightings, creepy old prop dummies, and a killer in a weird mask with monster claws on. However, all of these things make up a small portion of the film.Because of the lousy condition of my copy, the inappropriate musical score, and the silent format, I had trouble sousing out the individual details. The man responsible for the investigation seems to give a good performance. An old man who constantly yells at a stage hand for dancing or singing is funny. But other details, such as who exactly everyone is and the obligatory love story, got lost among the static.This was the second teaming of director Paul Leni and star Laura La Plante, after "The Cat and the Canary." Leni's visual sense continues to be strong. An opening montage establishes the Broadway spirit in a surreal, interesting way. Shots, like a grasping hand appearing over the action, a wounded man stumbling out of the shadows of a secret passageway, or a bump appearing in the carpet from under the floor, are nice touches. La Plante has even less to do here as she isn't involved much in the action. The film's Broadway setting made me think Universal was hoping for a cheaper "Phantom of the Opera." The climatic sequence, involving the cops chasing a murderous man in a creepy mask across the theater, certainly recalls that film. Perhaps not coincidentally, it's also the best moment in the movie. Generally speaking though, I don't think "The Last Warning" has much to offer horror fans, classic or otherwise.

Another idiot plot, similar to that of "London after Midnight": An actor is killed on stage. The theatre is shut down and rumored to be haunted by the actor's ghost. Long after the murder, a policeman with 'way too much time on his hands reopens the theatre to restage the production with the original cast (uh, with a new leading man). A couple of people refuse to go along but are scared that if they don't, it will make them look guilty. (Huh?) Someone terrifies the actors in ways that would terrify nobody, e.g. by leaving notes like "Do not do this play--Signed, my ghost." A mysterious figure skulks around in a creepy mask. The policeman's plan in re-creating the production is to bring the murderer to light; what he has in mind is unclear, but luckily for him the murderer obligingly duplicates the crime--like there's a rule he has to. His motive and means seemed unlikely to me, but who knows with these theatre people?In short, a silly, silly plot. But Leni directs it very deftly. I'm not a fan of his "Cat and the Canary," despite some inventive shots: the lead is unfunny, the tone keeps varying, and the play (none too great to start with) is fragmented. The movie looks to me as if it had undergone much re-editing. By contrast, this and "The Man Who Laughs" are just as inventive but much more sure-handed. Of course "The Man Who Laughs" is serious and this one isn't, but it's visually lively all the way through and the actors are well used. Montague Love is as good as always and John Boles gives the leading man more depth than he probably deserves. Laura la Plante's wide-eyed close-ups remind me somewhat of Fatty Arbuckle's, but Leni may have had his tongue in his cheek there.Now, if someone will resurrect "The Chinese Parrot"....